No.4454312, Private, Francis Walter HOLDER
Aged 29
|
Francis Walter Holder was born in Burwell on 4th October 1921, baptised in Burwell on 20th November 1921, son of Henry Lewis and Blanche Maud HOLDER
(née HORSLEY).
His elder brother Charles died as a prisoner of war of the Japanese in 1943. see here During World War 2 he served in the Durham Light Infantry and was taken prisoner and held in Stag 7A for 18 months It is recorded that he married (? Irene M JORDAN Cambridge Q2-1946 3B:1456) and his widow re-married and lived in Trowbridge, Wiltshire. Little else is currently known. The battalion had left Liverpool on 11th August 1949 for Hong Kong.In Hong Kong they trained and drilled incessantly and when the Korean War broke out they sent as reinforcements to 27th Infantry Brigade, arriving at Inchon on May 13th 1951. By November they had seen in many engagements with the enemy and were at Point 227 (Maryang San) . The enemy made a heavy artillery attack on the King's Own Scottish Borderers to their north on November 4th, followed up by an unexpected infantry attack.This was the very day and action when Bill Speakman (Black Watch, attached to KOSB) won his Victoria Cross. One unlucky shell landed on B Company HQ killing Major Taitt and 3 signallers. It could be that Francis was one of these. He died as a result of a missile wound to chest, right arm and left leg and is also recorded as being 5 feet 8 inches tall weighing 160 lbs. |
Francis Holder is buried in UN Memorial Cemetery, Pusan, South Korea Plot 34:row 4: grave 1588
click here to go to the Veterans UK website for full cemetery/memorial details
The CWGC warrant only covers the two world wars